PwC: Social media not yet taking over in-store shopping

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to the Multi-Channel Retail Survey, from PwC while 42% of Canadians use social media at least once a day and an additional 17% use these channels once a week, just 7% of these consumers are using social platforms to shop. While nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents say that price is important when deciding where to shop, this factor is outranked by five other drivers – the products on offer, ease of using the retailer’s website, a good return policy, a sense of trust in the brand or retailer, and the stores themselves.

Robert Scott, PwC’s National Consumer, Industrial Products and Services Leader comments:  “Social media is a daily part of life for many Canadians and with increased competition for market share and more US retailers entering the Canadian market, companies now need a strategy that allows them to connect with customers directly online, while still providing a seamless in-store experience.”

Other Canadian highlights from the PwC 2013 Global Multi-Channel Retail Survey include:

• Canadian brands find themselves in a tough struggle against their US competitors. Only three Canadian companies (Chapters Indigo, Canadian Tire and The Bay) rank amongst the top ten favourite multi-channel retailers for consumers.
• In Canada, physical stores aren’t going anywhere soon. A quarter of respondents (compared to 17% globally) say they rarely, if ever, shop online. And, of the countries surveyed, Canada is second only to Russia when it comes to rejecting online shopping.

The PwC 2013 Global Multi-Channel Retail Survey separates fact from fiction and analyzes 10 myths of mult-channel retailing. PwC’s International Survey Unit undertook the study in order to understand and compare consumer shopping behaviour and spot the patterns in multi-channel across 11 countries: Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, China, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, UK, US and Turkey.